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Fabric Friday

This week I did a bit of a spring clean on my fabric stash. I pulled out a ton of novelty fabrics that I have had for years and years, but really do not work with my current esthetic. I then spent hours cutting hundreds of 8 inch blocks for Project Linus and when I got bored, what was left was bundled up to give to the charity as well. I am sure they will be used to make some great kids quilts.

The process got me thinking about the fabric I now treasure and use. If you have seen any of my recent work you will notice I love to make scrap quilts. I love how you can play with colour and pattern within scrap quilt. In my most recent quilts I have used fabric I have had for 10+ years alongside newer fabrics to my stash. Don’t get me wrong, I have designers and collections I have hoarded and use as well – anything by Heather Ross, Aneela Hooey, Lizzy House and Denise Schmidt, but my heart currently belongs to scraps.

My stash is sorted two ways…

1. The above designers collections as well as my 1930’s fabric and Kaffe Fassett fabric get their own separate box – I have box for Heather fabric, a box for Aneela’s fabric etc.

2. Each colour (red, blue, green etc) has its own box or two.

What I consider my neutrals (which includes white/cream) tend to have more than one box….

Navy blue

Black & white

Grey

Within my colour boxes there are some fabric lines that I consider my “go to” staples. Nearly every quilt I have made in the last 6 months has included some of these lines.

1. Lizzy House’s Pearl Bracelets…. I started collecting Pearl Bracelets with her Castle Peeps line and then went a little overboard when they were released as a separate line. I bought a 1/2 yard of all of them at Hawthorne Threads.

Lizzy House’s Pearl Bracelet

2. While on Lizzy House…. her Jewels fabric is a fabulous modern tone on tone line that I use all the time. Again I started collecting this line with Castle Peeps and pick it up whenever I find it.

Lizzy House’s Jewel fabric

3. Art Gallery’s Oval Elements are another fabulously modern tone on tone fabric that I use regularly. I love the quality of Art Gallery fabric, they are sooo soft and the colour choices with this line is incredible.

Oval Elements by Art Gallery Fabrics

4. The glittery fun that is Michael Miller’s Mirror Ball Dot. I love sneaking some of this fabric in to give my quilts a subtle little sparkle and have used up most of my stash of this line!

Michael Miller’s Mirror Ball Dot fabric.

5. Talking of dots… I have a huge collection of them in my stash. My go to dot fabrics are Michael Millers “Ta Dot” and Kaffe Fassett’s “Spots“. You can not fail with these beauties.

I have recently started adding copious amounts of chevrons into my stash as well. They are giving my dot collection a run for it’s money!

I must admit I have become less afraid as time goes on, of using the last bit of a fabric because I realised there is always more beautiful fabrics coming down the pipe line. I am currently saving my money for Heather Ross’s Briar Rose.

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9 thoughts on “Fabric Friday”

Your fabric photographs are really lovely. I loved the last sentiment about using the last of your fabric. I also adore using the last of a fabric because I know it was either really loved (and I wanted to use it all of the time and share it with others) or really hated (and I wanted to get it the hell out of my stash)! Ninety-five percent of the time it’s the former! Haha

Lol. I agree with the love it sentiment. If I hate it I tend to give it away! I figure someone will love it. I just had the mental image of a fat quarter being passed around and around like you do an unwanted Christmas cake.

Love that mirror ball dot, not noticed/seen that one before. My stash looks very sad in comparison! If they ever get round to giving me my extra hours at work that’s the first thing on my list…buying serious amounts of fabric!

I must admit my stash has been building over time but there is (a) a lot of bargain and sale fabric and (b) a lot of fat quarters and 1/4 yards in it. The joy of scrap quilting is you do not need a lot of fabric.

I knew enough about my quilting habits to know I needed half a yard of pearl bracelets. It was a splurge for me but I do not regret it. The jewels I mainly picked up on sale around the web. I love a bargain!

My faves:

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